Pressure continues to mount for Veterans Affairs secretary Eric Shinseki to resign. However, he has refused to do so, even after the American Legion called on him to step down.
Shinseki is facing criticism over allegations that delayed health care has lead to veterans dying in VA hospitals, specifically the one in Phoenix. According to USA Today, a former doctor there alleged that as many as 40 veterans died waiting for care.
Now, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs has issued a subpoena, calling for emails, other evidence or a wait list from the Phoenix hospital. The VA has until May 19 to respond.
The list of supporters for Shinseki, a decorated veteran of Vietnam, has grown smaller, now that the American Legion is even calling for his resignation. Last year, the influential veterans organization supported him, but this week, they reversed their decision after the Phoenix scandal came to light.
American Legion commander Daniel Dellinger told The New York Times that Shinseki told him last month that he didn’t have to fire anyone, just “retrain” them. “That was a red flag,” Dillinger told the Times, later adding that calling for Shinseki to resign “was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
In an interview with CBS News, Shinseki said that he would rather oversee changes made to the system himself, rather than resign.
“All of this makes me angry, I mean whenever we have allegations like this, even until they're founded," Shinseki told CBS. "I didn't come here to watch things happen this way. I came here to make things better. And in the main we've done that."